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Lean Thinking initiatives promote designs that foster process improvement through feedback and empowering those working on a project with its reformation. Led by "Lean Champions," like those certified in GRCC’s Lean Champion Certification program, these initiatives often approach problems through consolidation and elimination of wasted time and effort.

For creative professionals, and freelancers in general, the workspace is closely tied to the design process. Form follows function, and a workspace that inhibits those functions can pose a serious obstacle to getting things done. Rarely tied to a single screen or sheet of paper, creative work can expand into other media and methods just as often as it relies on other individuals for support.

There's a measure of years between a popular fashion going out of style and becoming vintage. At several points in West Michigan, that span of time is held in much greater contrast, and shows off a critical slice of our region's fashionable imagination.

Compost and recyclable materials are being diverted from local landfills by individuals both looking for a chance to win free concert merch, and those who have a true understanding of environmental responsibility. Either way it’s inspiring.

For years, the phrase “work-life balance” has helped compartmentalize two important parts of our daily lives. It’s become clear in the digital age, however, that these areas are not mutually exclusive. Fulfillment comes about at the integration of career and personal goals, not by keeping them separate.

Empathy has long been a tool of the soft sciences, a method by which humans can form a connection based on mutual feelings, but it also involves an uncanny measure of self-awareness. Practicing empathy can be as simple as a conversation, or as complex as role playing out a case study.

In designing products for the Internet of Things (IoT), engineers at DornerWorks often rely on lateral thinking, as well as a wealth of open source tools and resources. Exploration into previous logs of successful products undoubtedly exposes a kernel of innovation that can be carried into the next, and with each iteration comes the opportunity to improve on past designs.

Modern-day Midtown, with a population of just over 4,000, according to 2013 Community Research Institute figures, is bordered to the north by I-196, to the east by Fuller Street, to the south by Fulton, and to the west by Union. It's one of the oldest and most venerated neighborhoods in Grand Rapids and is just as tethered to historical events as its neighboring communities.

The silent, and often unwilling witnesses of the human progress in West Michigan were here long before anyone named Campau, Lyon, or Fulton even arrived, and the story of their evolution lends contrast to the very definition of "progress."

In the last few decades we've essentially brought an entire planet within reach of a handheld device, we've taught machines to learn from each other, and we've given ourselves access to more information than our ancestors could ever dream of. From an outside perspective, technological advances like the internet may seem like magic. To those who study its potential, designing new ways for humanity to experience the world around us, it may as well be.

Illustrators in the digital age have access to a number of tools that handle the work that their paint and canvas predecessors and colleagues don't. Not the least among which are the capability to examine each work in excruciatingly magnified detail, save and print different versions with ease, and transfer the work instantly, anywhere.

It was once rare that the fields of architecture, and more-so, digital architecture, and human emotion overlapped. But the intersection is crucial not only to the basis of good software, however, it's the foundation of good software companies.

A spirit of fellowship and communal support is seen in organizations throughout the city, particularly at BL²END (Business Leaders Linked to Encourage New Directions), where young professionals of color connect with others, develop their professional skills, and add value to the community.

Working together, organizations like the Treetops Collective helped resettle the nearly 85,000 refugees who came to the United States in 2016, Owens says. And while the 2017 fiscal year was set to accept 110,000 refugees under the Obama administration. Executive orders from President Trump has reduced that number to 50,000.

The unemployed, homeless, and hungry have much more to worry about than the monotony of a 9 to 5. An eviction notice or power shut-off can severely disrupt stability at home, and when families have to choose between paying utility bills and affording food, it's hard to find hope.For the many faced with that decision, the Essential Needs Task Force is a crucially supportive resource.

For a number of services, but most importantly the chance at a home and stable friendships, youth in need can call 3:11 Youth Housing. Headquartered at 623 Naylor St. SW, the organization sets once homeless young people on a path toward a "healthy interdependence" with safe and affordable places to live and grow.

Those interested in building upon their knowledge and understanding have been able to do that, and more, through apps, audiobooks and online courses for years. But that's not to say the future of education is based in the cloud.

For those fortunate enough to live in West Michigan, Alternatives in Motion can restore freedom where it's been restricted. Led by executive director Coleen Davis, AIM provides wheelchairs, mobility equipment, and repair services to those in the community who couldn't otherwise afford it. The equipment and services are provided at no cost to the individual in need.